Duel City GX
by DarthValgaav
Summary: A year after Jaden left Duel Academy, he is invited into the new Duel City Tournament. However, someone wishes to repeat the past. Now Jaden along with both his old and new friends must stop them.
1. Chapter 1

This is just a little something I have wanted to do out of the norm. Hope you all like it.

-x-

Domino City was packed with people of all ages which wasn't all that unusual. However, what was unusual was that in a certain area all the people there had Duel Disks. All these people had other things in common. They had all brought their decks with them and they had all been invited by Seto Kaiba. Some of them were pro duelists while others were simply infamous due to their skills or had a one of a kind deck.

One such person, who was just now arriving on the scene, was Jaden Yuki. It had been a year since he had left Duel Academy and since his last duel to save the world he had been on the road. He still had the large, wild brown hair that stood up. He had on a blue jacket, black shirt, and jeans. On his belt was a holder for his deck that hadn't really changed all that much except for the addition of Yubel. And, unseen to almost everyone, was Yubel and Winged Kuriboh.

It was funny. A week ago he was eating a can of beans on the side of the road when all of a sudden a postman just showed up and handed him a letter. He didn't really know what made him accept it, other than there would be free food afterwards. However, he felt deep down that something big was about to happen. Most likely the world would need to be saved or something like that.

"_You're sure taking this well_,_"_ said Yubel. Jaden smiled and turned to face the duel spirit that only he could see and hear. _"I can sense it too. Something big is about to happen. Something that has me worried."_

"You? Worried?" asked Jaden with a raised eyebrow. "That can't be good when you're worried. But who knows, it might just be fun!" Yubel sighed. After his duel against Yugi, Jaden had become a bit more like his old self. After they had fused together, Jaden had become so serious and gloomy at times so it was nice to see him smile and enjoy things again. However, there were times when she wished that he would think things through a bit more.

"_That just means that you shouldn't let your guard down,"_ said Yubel.

"Alright, I got it," whined Jaden.

"Hey Jaden!" yelled a familiar voice as Yubel vanished. Jaden turned to see a short kid running towards him with blue hair and glasses. He also had on a blue trench coat.

"Hey Syrus," said Jaden as his friend stopped in front of him. "How are the pros?" Syrus shrugged.

"I'm still only in the middle of the rankings," said Syrus. "So I take it you got an invitation too?"

"You bet," said Jaden as he pulled out his invite. Syrus nodded.

"Cool," he replied. "A lot of the old gang got them as well. They should be here as well. And Crowler is here as well. Not to mention _her_." The way Syrus said that last word was made Jaden flinch a bit. As he said it, his teeth seemed to grit.

"Ah, who is this person?" asked Jaden. Syrus looked around and then pointed at a girl who was sitting by a fountain. She had long purple hair that went down her back and wore a yellow short sleeved shirt that revealed her stomach and jeans. Her face was turned to the side and Jaden could see that she had green eyes.

"Her name is Stella Fairweather," said Syrus as he narrowed his eyes at her. "We're currently tied at the same rank in the pros and I don't like her one bit!"

"Ah, and why's that?" asked Jaden.

"Because she thinks that Dark Magician Girl is a stupid card," said Syrus. "How could anyone hate a duel monster that hot?! There is something wrong with her." Jaden just laughed it off. He remembered that his friend had a crush on that card and it was nice to see that some things never changed. He turned his attention back on Stella only to find that an Obelisk Blue student from Duel Academy had walked up to her. Behind him were two goons and someone even worse, a lawyer.

"I hear you're pretty good," he said in an arrogant tone. "I challenge you to a duel." Stella turned her head away.

"Get lost creep," she said. The jerk grinned.

"So does that mean you forfeit?" he asked. Stella turned her head to look at him. Her expression was clear that she was annoyed and getting really angry with him.

"If that's the way you want to look at it then yes, I forfeit," she said as she stood up. She then pointed in a random direction. "Now get lost you little creep!"

"Fine then," he said. He then nodded and his two goons went right up to Stella and grabbed her arms.

"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded. "Let me go!"

"I will," said the creep. "But only after I take your rarest card."

"What?" yelled the girl. Now the people around were watching and waiting to see what was going to happen next. The creep grinned.

"You agreed that you forfeited," he said. "And that's the same as a loss in my book so I'm entitled to your rarest card. And if anyone has a problem with that then you can take it up with my lawyer." The lawyer chuckled as she girl squirmed.

Jaden was about to do something when someone else began to walk towards them who looked to be around they're age. He, like Jaden, had brown eyes and hair yet his hair wasn't as big or wild. He wore a red trench coat with its sleeves rolled up to his elbow, black fingerless gloves, a white shirt, jeans, and black steel toe boots. Jaden also noted something about this guy that no one else could; he had a duel spirit. It looked like some kind of tiger in Roman armor.

"Sorry I'm late," he said with a smile. "I would have been here sooner, but I got caught up with some things. So Stella, friends of yours?"

"Do they look like my friends?" said Stella as she sweat dropped. "Do something Adam!"

"Fine, fine," said the person called Adam. He then turned towards the creep calmly. "How about we settle this with our cards? I win and you leave my friend alone." Adam then held up his deck. "But if you win then I'll give you my deck."

"I bet it's worthless," said the creep. "Just who are you anyways?"

"Me?" said Adam as he pointed to himself. "My name is Adam Pegasus." At that, everyone around gasped causing Adam to flinch. He was the adopted son of the man who created the game of Duel Monsters. He was known for being one of the few people in the world who had a one of a kind deck that no one else possessed like Aster Phoenix did with his Destiny Heroes.

"Well, well," said the creep. "Isn't this interesting. Very well! I, Reginald Van Howell III, accept your challenge." With that the two of them activated their Duel Disks and then inserted their decks after they had been shuffled. Both of their life points went up to 8000 as they drew five cards each. "I'll make the first move," announce Reggie as he drew a card. "I summon Warrior Lady of the Wasteland in defense mode." A moment later a woman who liked like something out of a western in a green outfit appeared in front of Reggie in a kneeling position. "I'll also place one card face down and end my turn."

"Not bad," said Adam calmly. Then his eyes narrowed as he drew a card. "I think I'll activate the field spell card known as Colosseum – Cage of the Gladiator Beast!" As soon as the card was set into the Duel Disk, ruins began to rise up from the earth. The ruins circled around the two duelists and soon it looked like they were in a Roman coliseum.

"What is this place?" asked Reggie quietly. Adam chuckled.

"I'm guessing you skipped all your history classes," he said. "This is where gladiators fought for their lives for the entertainment of others back in ancient times. And they will once again for I summon my Gladiator Beast Dimacari!" A second later there appeared a purple ox that stood on its hind legs. On its arms were gauntlets and floating around the monster were disks of some kind. "Now attack with Champion Slash!" As soon as that command was given, Dimacari ran right at the Warrior Lady as energy claws came out of his gauntlets. He then slashed at his opponent in an X pattern and then leapt back before the monster exploded.

"You fool!" shouted Reggie. "You just activated my monsters special ability! I can now summon a level four or lower monster that has 1500 or fewer attack points. So come on out Mataza the Zapper." Now a samurai appeared on Reggie's side of the field. At the same time, a part of the ruins began to glow and Dimacari gained 100 attack and defense points. "What's going on? Why is your monster getting stronger?!"

"Well my field spell isn't just for show," said Adam. "Let me explain, every time either of us special summons a monster this card will gain a counter. And for each counter that's on it my Gladiator Beast's gain 100 attack and defense points. And now I'll end my battle phase in order to activate my monsters special ability, Tag Summon!" Dimacari then turned around and seemed to walk away and then another monster seemed to walk into the field area. This new monster was a green, armored birdman that had launchers attached to both his arms. Another counter was then added to the field spell bringing the monsters attack points to 1700. "You see, whenever one of my Gladiator Beast's survive a battle they are allowed to return to my deck and then I get to special summon another monster as long as it has Gladiator Beast in its name. So meet my Gladiator Beast Bestiari! And when he is special summoned due to Tag Summoning I get to activate his special ability and destroy one of your spell or trap cards!" Bestiari raised his arm and then aimed for the only spell or trap card on Reggie's side of the field. The monster then fired an arrow from its launcher that hit the face down card.

"What?" yelled Reggie as his Call of the Haunted was destroyed. "You'll pay for that!"

"I'm not so sure about that," said Adam. "I'll then place two cards face down and end my turn."

"Finally," said Reggie as he drew a card. "I activate my Fusion Sword Murasame Blade. This will give my Mataza the Zapper an extra 800 attack points giving it a grand total of 2100. And guess what loser, I can attack twice."

"You don't have to be a jerk about it," said Adam.

"Please," said Reggie. "That's what this game is all about. Now attack!" Mataza the Zapper then charged at the birdman with his new sword.

"I activate my trap card: Defense Tactics," announced Adam. Bestiari then got into a guarding position and blocked the attack. "This trap not only keeps my Gladiator Beast's from being destroyed but I also take no damage. The best part is that it goes right to the bottom on my deck afterwards."

"Fine, whatever," growled Reggie. "I end my battle phase." As soon as Reggie said that, Bestiari walked away and was then replaced with another monster. This time it was an armored lizard that looked more like a cartoon character than a warrior. The lizard man seemed to have small cannons floating behind his back, aimed at Reggie. Its original attack points were at 400 but then shot up to 700 due to another counter being placed on the field spell card.

"Allow me to introduce Gladiator Beast Secutor," said Adam. "And while I'm at it, I'll active my trap card: Double Tag Team. This trap card allows me to special summon one level four or lower Gladiator Beast from my deck or hand. So I'll choose Gladiator Beast Darius." Now a horse man appeared on the field wearing orange armor and holding a whip. As soon as he appeared another counter was added bringing him to 2100 attack points and Secutor to 800.

"Fine," growled Reggie. "I place one card face down and end my turn."

"Alright," said Adam as he drew a card. He stared at it for a moment and then grinned. "I special summon my best buddy, Test Tiger." With that, Adam's duel spirit appeared on the field and then another counter was added to it for a grand total of five. "Now I activate the special ability of my Test Tiger. By sending it to the graveyard, I can activate a Tag Summoning for one of the monsters on my field. And I pick Gladiator Beast Secutor!" Test Tiger vanished from the field in a golden light and then Secutor walked away. This time, a blue fish man walked onto the field who had two cannons on his back that looked like seashells. But he wasn't alone because Gladiator Beast Dimacari also walked back on the field as two more counters were added to the field spell card giving it a grand total of seven.

"Hey, what gives?" demanded Reggie. "How come you got two monsters instead of one?!"

"Special ability," said Adam as he waved a finger at Reggie. "You see, when Gladiator Beast Secutor is Tag Summoned, its special ability activates which allows me to Tag Summon two monsters when it tags in. Now I can activate the special ability of Gladiator Beast Murmillo which allows me to destroy one of your monsters! And I pick the only one you have: Mataza the Zapper!" The fish man then aimed his giant seashell cannons at the samurai and fired two powerful streams of water that him and destroyed him. "Now I attack you directly with Gladiator Beast Murmillo!" Once again Murmillo fired two streams of water at Reggie and brought his life points down to 6500. "You're up next Gladiator Beast Dimacari. And his special ability when he is Tag Summoned is that he can attack twice!"

"Say what?!" yelled Reggie as the purple ox charged at him. The monster attacked him with 2300 attack points which lowered Reggie's life points to 4200. The ox slashed at him again and now Reggie was down to 1900.

"Now finish this duel Gladiator Beast Darius!" commanded Adam. The horse man nodded and slashed at Reggie with his whip causing 2400 points of damage. Needless to say that Reggie's life hit zero and the spoiled teen feel to the ground.

"Why you," growled Reggie as he looked up at the teen who beat him. Whatever serious look was gone from Adam's face and he stood there with a grin on his face while scratching the back of his head.

"Wow, I can't believe I won," he said.

"I demand a rematch," said Reggie as he got up on his feet. "I had a bad hand, that's all!"

"Maybe some other time," replied Adam. "But maybe in the future you'll be more polite and a better sport." Reggie was about to say something, but stopped himself. He looked around and saw almost all the duelist in the area was watching him. They dared him to try something. Realizing that whatever intimidation he had when he came here was gone, Reggie decided it would be better to leave now and come back another time.

"Sweet duel," said Jaden as he and Syrus walked over to Adam and Stella. Stella looked at Jaden and blushed. Yet, when she saw Syrus, she raised her head and looked away. Syrus simply turned his back on her. "Ha ha, sorry about my friend."

"I know how you feel," replied Adam as he offered his hand. Jaden accepted it and as the two shook, their duel spirits appeared. "So, you have spirits as well. And might I add a very attractive one as well."

"_Sorry, but I'm already taken,"_ replied Yubel with a teasing smile.

"I'm Jaden Yuki," said Jaden.

"I'm Adam Pegasus," said Adam. "And it's lucky for me that I happen to run into to you."

"Why's that?" asked Jaden.

"My dad asked me to find you since you helped him out with the missing Ra card awhile back," replied Adam. "Someone has revived the Rare Hunters."

"The Rare Who?" asked Jaden. Adam sighed as a bored look appeared on his face.

"They were this group that went around stealing rare cards and selling them," Adam explained. "In fact, their former leader once held two of the three Egyptian God cards until Yugi defeated him."

"Oh yeah, I remember that," said Jaden.

"Well this new group is planning something," said Adam. "They aren't just taking cards, but souls and duel energy as well."

"So did you gather all these people to stop them?" asked Jaden. Adam shook his head.

"Nope," he replied. "This is just the bait."

"The what?" asked Syrus. Then, as if on cue, Seto Kaiba appeared on all of the large screen TVs.

"Welcome all duelists," said Kaiba as he got the attention of every duelist on the ground. "I am proud to announce that the Duel City Tournament will be held once again. The rules will be the same as last time, duel each other and collect locator cards that will point you to where the finals will be held. Also, in addition to a locator card, the loser must give up their rarest card!

"Now, to spice things up, the finalist will each receive a one of a kind dragon card that will be designed just for them. Also, the winner of this tournament will go on to face the King of Games in a title match. So at 9 AM tomorrow let the games begin!"


	2. Chapter 2

Before we begin, vote time. Should Jaden be with Alexis or Blaire?

-x-

"Alright," said Jaden as he grabbed Adam's arm. "I want some answers. What's this about bait? And why are they stealing souls and duel energy?" Adam sighed.

"Don't look at me," said Adam as he managed to free himself of Jaden's grip. "This was Kaiba's plan. As for why they are trying to steal people's souls and duel energy, well I have an idea. You see, a couple of months ago, three cards were stolen from my father."

"Let me guess," said Jaden. "Copies of the Egyptian Gods?" Adam shook his head.

"No, but close," he replied. "They were created around the same time as the Egyptian Gods, the Wicked God cards."

"The Wicked God cards?" repeated Jaden. "Never heard of them."

"Not surprising since their existence has been kept top secret," replied Adam. "These monsters are nearly on par with the original Egyptian Gods and Sacred Beasts. But, one thing remains clear that they could do a great deal of damage to this world if they aren't used properly. Kaiba decided to use the same trick he used to lure out the last group of Rare Hunters and my father asked he to find their boss and defeat him.

"You see, in order to bring out the full power of the Wicked Gods, they need souls and duel energy. And, sadly for us, our souls are the most powerful because we can see duel spirits. Who knows how many more people like us are here today. After they have collected enough, their boss will try to defeat Yugi in order to possess his cards as well. Once that happens, we lose with no chance at a to be continued."

"Yikes," said Jaden. "These guys sound worse than the Shadow Riders, Society of Light, and Trueman combined. But, what's with the prize Kaiba mentioned?"

"Oh, that's to help motivate everyone," explained Adam. "He and my dad analyzed everyone's decks before inviting them and created a dragon card of some kind that will give their deck an advantage. I believe yours is a new Neo-Spacian."

"Really?" asked Jaden as he began to get excited. "That's so sweet! Well take down the bad guys, get a new card, and have a chance to become the next King of Games all at the same time! Could it get any better?"

"_Jaden," _said Yubel. _"This might not be as easy as you seem to think. The Wicked Gods are not to be underestimated. I will protect you with all of my power, but it might not be enough."_

"Thanks for the warning," said Jaden. He then turned to face Adam. "Listen, what these guys are doing is not cool. You can count on me to help out in any way I can." Adam smiled.

"My father was right about you," said Adam. "I'm sure you'll be a great help."

-x-

In an apartment complex not too far away, sat a man on an old sofa. He wore a black trench coat, white shirt, and jeans. Behind his small glasses a person could see his teal colored eyes. His blond hair was long and flat and ended in a dozen spikes. Suddenly, a ringing was heard. The man went to one of his pockets and pulled out his cell phone.

"Hello," he said. "I see, so he is here." There was a pause for a moment. "Don't worry; I'll keep up my part of the bargain as long as you do the same." There was another pause. "I'll keep that in mind." And with that, he hung up.

"Was that him?" asked another figure in the room. This one had blue hair and brown eyes. He wore a black sleeveless shirt, black shorts, and had chains hanging from one of his sides. The man nodded.

"The time draws near," said the man as he pulled out his deck. He then removed three cards from it and held them up high revealing the three Wicked God cards. "Soon, my rein will begin!"

-x-

"Serge," came a loud voice. It was early the next day and Jaden, Adam, and Stella were waiting in the city square for Syrus. The three of them turned to the sound of the voice and saw Syrus along with several others. The one who had called out was Hassleberry who still dressed that same way he did back in school. Chazz was there to and, like Hassleberry, he was still dress the same. Blair had on an orange short sleeve shirt and jeans. Alexis had on a matching blue top and a blue skirt. Jessie was there along with Ruby Carbuncle on his shoulder. He had on a button up white shirt and jeans. Last up was Aster Phoenix.

From what Jaden had heard they were all doing well. Chazz was in the pro league and was doing well. Hassleberry had just graduated and Alexis was attending a school to help her to become a teacher. Jessie was also in the pros and Blair was going to be graduating this year.

"Howdy Jaden," said Jessie as soon as they all reach their friend. Before Jaden could say anything, Blair jumped up and wrapped her arms around. Immediately after, Jaden fell onto his back and Blair refused to let go.

"I just knew I would see you again," said Blair loudly. "It's the power of love!"

"Stop that!" yelled Alexis as she went over to the fallen two. "You're causing a scene! Get off of him!" With that, Alexis proceeded to grab Blair by the back of her shirt and tried to pull her off.

"Hey Stella, how come you never do anything like that for me?" asked Adam. Stella glared at him.

"Why would I ever disgrace myself like that for you?" she demanded. Adam smiled.

"Because it looks like fun," he replied. Stella just rolled her eyes and turned away causing Adam to chuckle. After a few minutes, Alexis finally got Blaire off of Jaden.

"Hey," said Alexis as she helped Jaden get up. "So…how have you been?" Jaden shrugged.

"Not bad I guess," he said. "So, did Syrus tell you all about what's going on?"

"You bet your boats Serge," said Hassleberry. "And don't you worry because Troop Jaden is ready to march out on your command!"

"So tell me," said Aster as he turned his attention towards Adam. "What do these Rare Hunters look like?"

"I…don't have a clue!" announced Adam with a grin. Everyone else just face faulted and Adam chuckled. "I mean, it's not like they have a web site or anything."

"What's the deal with this guy?" demanded Chazz as he pointed at Adam. "How can you stand there, grinning, when you have no idea on how to find the enemy?!"

"Well," replied Adam. "If you duel someone, lose, and find out that you're having your soul sucked out then that means you found one." Everyone sweat dropped.

"What a moron," sighed Stella. "Let's just split up into pairs. Just look for creepy or oddly dressed people." Everyone nodded.

"I'll go with Jaden," said Syrus, Hassleberry, Jessie, and Blaire at the same time. They all blinked and then turned to face each other. Then…

"I've known him the longest," said Syrus. "So I should go with him!"

"Heck no son," said Hassleberry. "I can offer my strategic advice which is way better than yours."

"I think good old Rainbow Neos would be helpful," said Jessie.

"I've waited a long time to be with my Jaden," said Blaire. "And I have a new deck that will be really helpful!"

"Actually guys," said Jaden as he got their attention. "I was thinking of going with Adam since he knows about the Wicked God cards. Besides, I gotta see what else his deck can do!" Everyone sighed. Then, after several minutes of arguing, everyone else drew straws to see who would pair up with whom. Aster was paired with Stella. Chazz found himself stuck with Jessie. Syrus was with Hassleberry which left Blaire with Alexis.

-x-

It was now half past nine and Reggie was now looking for the guy who not only defeated him yesterday, but embarrassed him as well. He was from Obelisk Blue and some punk defeated him. It wasn't right! He was in such a rage that he didn't see the man in the grey kimono and hakama. The man had black hair that was tied in the back in a ponytail and wore his Duel Disk on his side.

"Watch where you're going loser," growled Reggie as he raised a fist at the man.

"My apologies," said the man calmly. "I am sorry for any harm I might have caused you. If you will excuse me, I'll be on my way." The man started to leave, but stopped when he heard a Duel Disk activate.

"Not so fast," said Reggie. "I think I'll give you the pleasure of being my first victim of the day. How does that sound?" The man turned around and put on his Duel Disk. As he did, Jaden and Adam just happen to be walking in their direction.

"Very well," said the man. "I Shinji, accept your challenge." When he finished saying that, a black circle appeared around the two of them. There were no flames or anything too dramatic other than a light pulsing. Reggie eyed it and sneered as he drew five cards.

"What's this?" he asked as he pointed at the circle. "Some kind of lame attempt to freak me out."

"I would never dream of it," said Shinji as he drew his five cards. "This is the power of my master at work. Once your life points hit zero, you will lose your soul. Also, it will be absorbing all of our duel energy while we duel."

"Whatever," sneered Reggie as he drew the first card. "I can see right through you and your lame tricks. Now watch how a real duelist duels! I activate the spell card: Reinforcement of the Army! This spell card lets me add one level four warrior monster to my hand. Next, I'll summon my Marauding Captain!" A blond haired knight with a red cape holding two swords appeared on the field. "Now his special ability activates which allows me to special summon one level four or lower level monster to the field. And I pick my Command Knight!" This time it was a female warrior who appeared. Her armor had a winged design on it as was a bright red with a black cape. On her side was a golden sword. "And her special ability is that all warriors on my side of the field get a 400 attack point bonus!" Both monsters, whose original attack points were 1200, suddenly rose to 1600. "I'll then set one card face down and end my turn."

"Wow," said Jaden as he watched this. "Two monsters with 1600 attack in one turn. That's not bad. He might win this."

"Maybe," said Adam as he eyed the opponent. "But this guy is a Rare Hunter and he hasn't made his move yet."

"My turn," said Shinji as he drew a card. "I'll start with the spell card: Six Samurai United!" As soon as he set that card down, a large crest appeared behind him. "Each time I summon or special a monster with Six Samurai in its name this card will get a counter. Next I will play a monster face down in defense mode. Then I'll play the field spell, Shien's Castle of Mist!" The scenery around them changed as a dark forest. On each of the bare branches were crows with eerie red eyes. And behind Shinji was a glowing purple castle. "Now, I place one card face down and end my turn."

"I knew you had nothing," said Reggie as he drew a card. He now had three cards in his hand. "All you know is how to scare people. Now I'll attack with my Marauding Captain!" Once the order to attack had been given, the blond haired knight ran towards the face down monster. With a single blow the knight split the card in two to reveal a small, monkey like man holding a spear.

"Once you destroy Shien's Footsoldier in battle, his special ability activates," said Shinji. "Now I can special summon one level three or lower Six Samurai from my deck! And I choose The Six Samurai-Yaichi!" A samurai wearing armor that had a glowing yellow partner appeared on his side of the field. In one had it held a bow and on one of his eyes was an electric device which looked like a telescope of some kind. Its attack points were 1300. As soon as it was summoned, half of the crest behind Shinji lit up. "Then I'll activate my trap: Swiftstrike Armor! If I draw a Six Samurai monster during my draw phase, I will be allowed to special summon it."

"Big deal," said Reggie. "I'll just destroy it with my Command Knight!" The Command Knight rushed at the archer as she drew her sword. However, as soon as it was close enough, the archer pulled out an arrow and pierced it into the knight's chest. As Command Knight exploded, Reggie lost 200 life points bringing his total to 7800. Also, the Marauding Captains attack points went back to 1200. "What happened? My monster was stronger!"

"Yeah, I'm kind of wondering that myself," admitted Jaden.

"Looks like Reggie forgot about the field spell," said Adam.

"Allow me to explain," said Shinji. "When you attack one of my Six Samurai monsters while Shien's Castle of Mist is on the field, your monster will lose 500 attack points during the damage calculation. Now, it is my turn. I draw!" Shinji drew a card and then placed it on the field. "Due to the effects of my Swiftstrike Armor I'm allowed to special summon The Six Samurai- Kamon!" Now a red armored samurai appeared on the field and in one had was a stick of dynamite. This monster had had 1500 attack points. Behind Shinji, the rest of the crest light up. "I now send Six Samurai United to the grave to activate its effect which allows me to draw a card for each counter." The crest vanished and Shinji drew two cards. "Now, since I have at least one other Six Samurai monster on the field, I special summon Grandmaster of The Six Samurai!" Now an old man with long white hair appeared on Shinji's side of the field. He held in his hands a sword and his armor had a glowing white pattern. One eye was covered by an eye patch and he had 2100 attack points. "Now, before I attack, I'll use the special ability of Kamon which allows me to destroy one face down spell or trap card."

"What?" gasped Reggie as Kamon tossed a stick of TNT at his face down. A moment later the card exploded to reveal Blast with Chain. "Sorry loser, but the card you just destroyed was Blast with Chain! And when it is destroyed due to a card effect, I get to destroy one of your cards. So say goodbye to your Grandmaster!" There was a sudden explosion around the Grandmaster and he was then gone.

"I activate my Grandmasters special ability," said Shinji. "And that is when the Grandmaster of The Six Samurai is destroyed by one of your card effects, I can bring to my hand any monster with Six Samurai that is in my graveyard. So I choose the only one available, Grandmaster of The Six Samurai and then I special summon him again! Now, The Six Samurai-Yaichi, attack his Marauding Captain with Cyber Eagle Arrow!" Yaichi placed an arrow in his bow and aimed it right at the Captain. It then let the arrow fly and hit the Captain right in the middle of his chest and destroyed him. This brought Reggie down to 7700. "Now my Grandmaster will attack you directly with Honed Blade Assault!" The old now charged at Reggie and slashed his blade at his mid section. Reggie was now at 5600 life point and on one knee.

"What's the deal?" asked Reggie. "I really felt that. Is there something wrong with the hologram?"

"You may think what you like," said Shinji. "But this is a duel for your soul. If you wish to survive, you had better pick up your game!"

"Shut up," growled Reggie as he drew a card. "I'm not going to fall for whatever mind game your trying to play. I activate my Pot of Greed which lets me draw two cards." With that, Reggie drew two cards which brought his total to four. "I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight! Next I'll play Release Restraint so I can tribute my Iron Knight to summon Gearfried the Swordmaster!" One moment there was a warrior in black armor and then appeared a shirtless man with long black hair with 2600 attack points. "Next I'll discard one card from my hand to equip him with Wicked-Breaking Flamberge-Baou!" Gearfried suddenly got a new sword that had a red tint around it and his attack points went up to 3100. "Now that I have equipped him with a equip card, I can destroy one of your monsters! So goodbye again Grandmaster!" Once again the Grandmaster exploded.

"I activate his effect and bring him back to my hand," said Shinji.

"So what," snickered Reggie. "I'm attacking your Yaichi!" Gearfried leapt up into the air and then slammed his sword down onto the archer. He lost 500 attack points before it hit, but Yaichi was still destroyed and Shinji lost 1300 life point which brought his total to 6700. "I end my turn."

"Very well. I draw," said Shinji as he drew a card. He now held five cards. "I'll start by special summoning my Grandmaster once again! Then, since I have two Six Samurai monsters, I'll special summon my Great Shogun Shien!" Now, in between the Grandmaster and Kamon was a warrior in red armor with spikes on his shoulders. His face was hidden behind a mask and on his chest was a flame symbol. He held a single sword and his attack points equaled 2500. "While this monster is out, you can only active one spell or trap card each turn."

"Big deal," said an arrogant Reggie. "My monster is still stronger."

"I can fix that with Hand of the Six Samurai," said Shinji. Now a woman appeared on his side of the field dressed in a kimono armed with a dagger. "I now sacrifice Kamon to active her special ability which allows me to destroy one of your monsters!"

"Say what?!" yelled Reggie as the Hand of the Six Samurai appeared behind his monster and stabbed him. Gearfried then exploded and left Reggie wide open.

"I attack you directly with my Grandmaster," commanded Shinji. The Grandmaster charged at Reggie and once again slashed at his mid section. Now Reggie was at 3500. "Next will be my Hand of the Six Samurai!" Reggie blinked and the next thing he knew was that he was being stabbed from behind by the Hand. Now he had only 1900 life points. "Now finish this Great Shogun Shien with Shadow Flame Slash!" The sword held by the Great Shogun Shien began to burn black flames as he charged at Reggie and then slashed him into two. Once the arrogant boy's life points hit zero, his mouth opened and a ghost like head shaped like Reggie's came out and shot right up into the sky. Moments later the circle also shot up into the sky as Reggie fell to the ground. Shinji walked over to the fallen body and took both his locator card as well as his rarest card.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Jaden as he rushed to Reggie's side. However, Reggie said nothing and felt cold to the touch. Jaden gritted his teeth and then turned to face Shinji. "Give back his soul now."

"I cannot comply," said Shinji. "That is beyond my powers."

"Fine then," said Jaden as he put of his Duel Disk. "Then I challenge you to a duel!"

"Very well then," said Shinji and he shuffled his deck. His life points resent and he then drew five cards. The black circle reappeared and began to pulse. "I draw." He drew one card. "I'll summon The Six Samurai-Yariza!" In front of him there appeared a samurai with a glowing blue patterned armor. In his hand was a spear with a white glowing tip and his attack points were 1000. "Next, I'll equip him with Legendary Ebon Steed and that will end my turn." A black horse appeared on the field. Yariza jumped into the air and landed on his saddle. When he did that, his attack points became 1200.

"Alright then, I draw," said Jaden as he drew a card. "I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart." A bronzed skinned man with long black hair appeared on the field. "Now attack!" Wildheart charged at Yariza and attacked with all its 1500 attack point might. There was an explosion and when the smoke cleared the horse was gone but not Yariza. "Hey, what gives?"

"It's the effect of my Legendary Ebon Steed," said Shinji. "If the monster it was equipped to was about to be destroyed, the spell card is destroyed instead. However, I still take the damage." As soon as he said that, his life points went down to 7700.

"Alright then," said Jaden. "I'll place one card face down and then let you make the next move."

"Very well, I draw," said Shinji as he drew a card. "I summon Spirit of the Six Samurai." Purple samurai armor appeared on the field; however it seemed that a ghost was wearing it. "Now I equip this monster onto my Yariza." As soon as he said that, the armor swirled around the spear holder and began to equip itself onto him and its attack points went up to 1500. "Next I'll equip him with Lucky Iron Axe." An axe appeared in Yariza's hand and its attack points went up to 2000. "Now attack!" Yariza ran towards Wildheart who tried to block the attack. But Yariza's axe cut through Wildhearts sword and Wildheart. The elemental hero was destroyed and Jaden lost 500 life points. "Now, due to the effect of Spirit of the Six Samurai, I get to draw one card." Shinji draw a card.

"And I activate my trap: Hero Signal!" said Jaden. "So come out Clayman in defense mode!"

"I end my turn," said Shinji as Clayman appeared on the field.

"Good," said Jaden as he drew a card. "I play Polymerization to fuse the Burstinatrix in my hand with my Clayman to form the Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster." A large monster with a shield in one hand and a gun for the other appear on the field in defense mode. Its defense points were 2500 and its attack points were 2000. "Now I cut my monsters attack points in half to attack you directly!" As commanded, Rampart Blaster began to fire several missiles past Yariza and at Shinji which lowered his life points to 6700. "I guess you're up now."

"My draw," said Shinji. "I play The Six Samurai-Irou." Now a samurai with a long sword and armor with a glowing purple pattern appeared on the field. Its attack points were 1700. "Now that I have another Six Samurai monster on my side of the field, Yariza can attack you directly!" Yariza dashed at Rampart Blaster, but instead of attacking it jumped over it with great agility. The monster then slashed Jaden, reducing his life points to 5500. "I end my turn."

"I draw," said Jaden. A smile appeared of Jaden's face when he saw the card. "I summon Elemental Hero Stratos!" Now a hero with a glider on his back appeared on Jaden's side of the field. It was in attack mode and had 1800 attack points. "Now I activate his special ability and destroy one spell or trap card on your side of the field for each Elemental Hero on mine. And I count two." Two mini twisters appeared from the glider on Stratos' back and destroyed both of the cards equipped to Yariza.

"My Lucky Iron Axe allows me to draw a card when it is destroyed by a card effect," said Shinji as he drew a card.

"That may be so," said Jaden. "But it won't help you now. Stratos, attack his Yariza!" Once again the twin twisters shot out from Stratos and hit Yariza, causing Shinji to lose 800 life points bringing his total to 5900. However, it was Irou who was destroyed instead. "Hey, what gives?"

"The Six Samurai know that sometimes you have to take one for the team," said Shinji. "If one is attacked while there are other Six Samurai monsters on the field, I can send a different one to the grave."

"Sweet," said Jaden. "That's pretty cool, but not as cool as my Rampart Blasters special ability." Once again, Rampart Blaster attacked Shinji directly brining his life points to 4900.

"My draw," said Shinji. "I play Six Samurai Unite!" The crest appeared behind Shinji once again. "Then I summon The Six Samurai-Zanji." As a counter appeared on the crest, a samurai with golden glowing armor appeared on the field. It held in its hand a golden glowing spear and its attack points were 1800. "Now Zanji, attack Rampart Blaster!"

"What?" asked a shocked Jaden. Zanji did as commanded and charged at the Blaster. However, the Elemental Hero blocked the attack with its shield and Shinji lost 700 life points which brought him down to 4200. Yet, as soon as he lost his points, Rampart Blasted exploded.

"If there is another Six Samurai monster on my side of the field, Zanji has the power to destroy any monster it battles after the damage step," explained Shinji. "Now attack him directly Yariza!" The other speared warrior nodded and this time threw his spear in the air and when it fell it hit Jaden. This brought the hero users life points to 4500. "I end my turn."

"Great," said Jaden as he drew a card. He now had four cards. "I play my Pot of Greed which lets me draw two cards." Jaden drew twice giving him five cards. "Next I'll play my Fake Hero spell card so I can special summon Elemental Hero Neos!" Now warrior in white tights appeared on the field. "Next I'll summon my Neo-Spacian Glow Moss." From the ground grew a figure that looked like a man. "Now it's time for Contact Fusion! I fuse together my Neos and Glow Moss to create my Elemental Hero Glow Neos!" The two monsters jumped into the air as the scenery became that of the galaxy itself. When the two landed, they were one. It looked like a glowing version of Neos with dreadlocks.

'So that's Jaden's contact fusion,' thought Adam. 'It seems to be more difficult than mine is and from what I have heard there is a serious flaw to it. I wonder how well it would do against _my_ Tag Fusion.'

"Now, I destroy your Six Samurai United in order to attack you directly!" yelled Jaden. Shinji gasped in shock as his spell card was destroyed. A moment later he was wincing in pain as a spear made of glowing spores pierced him, bring his life points down to 1700. "Next I play my Contact Out which sends my Glow Neos back to my fusion deck and brings out the two monsters that created it. And the best part is that I can still use them to attack!" As promised, Glow Neos separated back into Neos and Glow Moss. "Neos, attack Yariza with Cosmic Crush!" Neos jumped into the air and then karate chopped Yariza in two and brought Shinji's life points to 200. "You're up next Stratos." Stratos created the twin twisters once more and sent them towards Zanji. This left Shinji with 100 life points. "And last is Glow Moss. But before he can attack, you have to flip the top card on your deck. This will determine what Glow Moss will do." Shinji nodded and drew his card. It was Shien's Castle of Mist! Jaden nodded. "Looks like he can attack you directly with Spore Spear!" Glow Moss created his spear from his body and then launched it at Shinji. When the attack hit he lost the last of his life points.

It was the same as Reggie. Shinji raised his head and opened his mouth to allow a ghost head of himself to escape into the air. Moments later the black circle shot into the air as well right after Shinji's body fell to the ground. Jaden, who had been drained of almost all of his duel energy, took a knee.

"One down," said Adam as he went to help his friend back up. "And only an unknown number left to go."


	3. Chapter 3

The leader of the Rare Hunters sat in a room as he stared into what appeared to be a large crystal ball. And when I say large, I mean it took up at least half the room. Inside of it was mostly empty space. However, there were a few things in it. You see, floating inside of the crystal ball were several souls that they had already acquired.

So far he had lost one of his Rare Hunters. It didn't really matter. He had others who were so much more skilled than that fool. Besides, the person who he dueled against was a far better duelist than average. Also, one expects to lose a few pawns when one is trying to climb his way to the top.

Just then, his blue hair minion entered the room.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked.

"Yes," replied the leader without turning around. "I need you to collect a soul for me. One that I can use that won't interfere with my plans." The leader reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture. He turned around and threw it at his minion like a dart. The teen caught it with ease and looked at it. "Take Milton with you for back up should anyone interfere with this mission."

"Why not just send that loser by himself," said the teen. "This guy looks so pathetic that I'm feeling sorry for him."

"Because I don't want to take any chances," replied the leader. "Now go."

-x-

"I still say you should have taken one of his cards," said Adam as he and Jaden walked down the street. It was the second day of the tournament and so far they hadn't had any duels since the Rare Hunter. After he was defeated, Adam had called up Kaiba and had the bodies taken to a secure location so that their condition could be monitored.

"I didn't feel right," replied Jaden. "I mean, he lost his soul. I didn't want to take one of his cards after that."

"Well, he probably stole them," replied Adam. He then let out a sigh. "I guess it doesn't really matter. We just have to make sure that we take out as many Rare Hunters so that eventually the big boss will come out."

"Uh?" said a surprised Jaden. "What makes you think that he isn't out right know?"

"Because the bad guy never comes out and duels this early," replied Adam. "Don't you watch TV? The bad guy stays in some gloomy place while his henchmen do all his dirty work. Then, after he has lost almost all of them, only then will he make his big move."

"Oh, now I see," said Jaden.

"Also," continued Adam. "Kaiba will call me if he detects any of the Wicked God cards." At this, Jaden face faulted.

"Right," said Jaden as he laughed a little. Then, suddenly, his stomach growled. "I'll be right back." Adam nodded as Jaden ran around a corner and vanished from sight. For the next several minutes, Adam stood there as he waited for his hungry companion to return. Then, he noticed an odd looking person walking towards him. She was wearing what looked like an Obelisk uniform, but slightly modified. This lead Adam to come to one conclusion.

"I found you Rare Hunter!" yelled Adam loudly as he pointed to the person in question.

"I'm not a Rare Hunter!" yelled Dr. Crowler. "They aren't even around anymore!"

"It's obvious that you are one," stated Adam. "No normal person would wear such a ridiculous outfit and such hideous make up. I don't know if you are color blind or something miss but…"

"You know," whispered a nearby bystander to another. "He has a point."

"It's not miss, its doctor," yelled Crowler as he began to stomp his foot on the ground. "I have a PhD in dueling!" A wind blew between them.

"Looks like the only way to find out for sure is with a duel," said Adam. "As per the Duel City rules, I'll wager one of my locator cards as well as my rarest card."

"Very well then," said Crowler as he activated his oversized and flashy Duel Disk. "But just so you know, you don't stand a chance. I happen to be the lead profession at Duel Academy!"

"There's just no way," said Adam as he shook his head. "A profession has glasses, looks smart, and doctors wear lab coats! You are the worst lair I have ever seen!" Tick marks were beginning to appear all over Crowler's face.

"I'll go first," said the irritated professor as he drew his first card. "I'll start off by playing my Future Fusion spell card. I'll then send three cards to my graveyard and then on my second standby phase I'll be able to summon the fusion material monster those cards would create." As he said this, Crowler sent Ancient Gear Golem and two Ancient Gear Soldiers to the graveyard. "Next, I'll summon my Boot-Up Soldier-Dread Dynamo in defense mode." A machine appeared on the field with 2000 defense points. It was shaped like a man and mostly brown. Yet, in its center was a whole and in the back was a space that looked gear shaped. "With that I place one card face down and end my turn."

"Not bad," said Adam as he got serious and drew a card. "I'll summon Gladiator Beast Equeste in attack mode!" On Adam's side of the field appeared a centaur wearing armor all over its half horse, half man body. On its back were mechanical wings and in one hand was a shield. Its attack points were at 1600. "Now I attack with Galloping Assault!" Once the attack was ordered, Equeste began to run right at Dread Dynamo.

"Ha ha ha," laughed Crowler. "Looks like someone skipped his math class. But never fear! I'll be happy to give you a free lesson. My monsters defense points are 400 points higher than yours. That means that you'll lose the difference." Sure enough, as Equeste's hooves hit the machine, it was thrown back and Adam's life points went down to 7600.

"Now that my battle phase is over I can activate my monsters special ability," said Adam with a grin. With that, Equeste began to walk away and a new monster began to walk onto the field. This monster looked like a rhino in white armor with six sided diamond shaped disks circling around him. Once it was in its space, it went into defense position and had 2400 defense points. "Meet Gladiator Beast Hoplomus! His special ability is when he is special summoned, his attack points become 2400. Next I'll place two cards face down and end my turn."

"So you did all that just to get a better defense," said Crowler as he drew a card. "I'm not impressed. I summon my Green Gadget to the field." A green machine with a giant gear in its chest appeared on the field with 1400 attack points. "Now, thanks to this monsters special ability, I can place one Red Gadget from my deck to my hand. Also, because I have a Gadget monster on the field, my Dread Dynamo gains 2000 attack points. I'll which it to attack mode and then place another card face down and end my turn."

Adam drew his card and then surveyed the field. He had a feeling that those two face down cards were traps that would protect his machines. He also had a feeling that he would save those cards for the monster that he was about to summon in his next turn.

"I activate my trap," said Adam as a card flipped over. "It's called Trojan Gladiator Beast and it lets me summon one of my Gladiator Beasts in my hand to your side of the field. So say hi to Gladiator Beast Secutor." There was a poof of smoke on Crowler's side of the field and when it cleared there was a more cartoonish reptile on his side of the field. "And, as a bonus, I get to draw a card. Now I which my Hoplomus to attack mode and attack your Secutor." With that, the rhino like monster, whose attack points were 700, lowered his horn and charged at Secutor.

'If that attack goes through then I'll lose 300 life points,' thought Crowler as he did the math in his head. 'I could use my trap card and protect myself, but then I wouldn't be able to use it later. Oh well, it's only 300 life points. No big deal really.' And with that, Crowler watched as the reptile was pierced by the rhino's horn and his life points went down to 7700.

"Now that my battle phase has ended, I get a new monster," said Adam as Hoplomus walked away. Then the earth began to shake as the sounds of giant footsteps were heard. Then in walked a giant, two story dinosaur man in armor with a bone design on it. Its long tail swung back and forth while it held a staff like axe weapon in its two hands. This grey skinned dinosaur had 2200 attack points. "This is one of the most well know gladiators in my deck, Gladiator Beast Spartacus! And his special ability allows me to move one equip spell card from my deck to my hand when he is Tag Summoned. And I'll use that card right now, so I activate Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica." Spartacus's right arm was then covered by what appeared to be an extra set of armor. "I end my turn."

"I bet you do," said Crowler as he drew a card. "It appears that you were able to summon a powerful monster, well done. Too bad it's not good enough because now I can summon my Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!" Now, a centaur like version of the Ancient Gear Golem appeared on the field. One of its arms had been replaced with a three fingered claw and was twice as thick. Its size easily dwarfed Adam's monster and left a shadow on the field. It's one red glowing eye looked right at Spartacus and seemed to roar. Its attack points were at 4400. "Now attack with Ultimate Ancient Gear Fist!"

-x-

Over with Jaden, he was waiting in line to place his order which seemed to be taking forever.

"How can this be called fast food?" asked Jaden aloud. Yubel only smirked.

"Jaden, it's you," said a familiar voice. Jaden turned to the side and saw his old roommate Chumley. "I've been looking all over for you. Should have known you'd be getting a snack." Jaden laughed at that.

"So what brings you out here?" asked Jaden. Chumley reached into his pocket and pulled out some cards.

"I came to give you some new cards that I created," he said as he gave them to Jaden. "There some new Elemental Hero's that might come in handy."

"Wow thanks," said Jaden as he looked them over. He then looked up at Chumley. "But, won't you get in trouble for this? I mean, it's like you're helping me cheat or something."

"The way I see it, if you don't win then the whole world is in trouble," said Chumley. "I heard all about it from Pegasus. Right now, you're the best hope we got."

-x-

"Now attack with Ultimate Ancient Gear Fist!" The monster raised its claw like hand and sent it crashing down on Spartacus. But, when the smoke cleared, the dinosaur gladiator was still standing while Adam's life points went down to 5400. "Wait a minute! Your monster should have been destroyed! How can this be?"

"Easy, my spell card," said Adam. "Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica keeps my monster from being destroyed in battle. Also, this card returns to my hand when the monster it is equipped to returns to my deck."

"Fine then, I end my battle phase," said Crowler. He then waited for Adam to do another Tag Summoning, but nothing happened. "Uh, I end my turn."

"Good," said Adam as he drew a card. "I summon Gladiator Beast Dimacari." Now, the purple ox had reappeared on Adam's side of the field. "Now, allow me to give you a lesson in Tag Fusion!"

"There's no such thing," said Crowler. However, both monster jumped into the air and seemed to tag each other. When they did this, they were sucked into some kind of void and a new monster took their place. This monster was almost as tall as the Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem and stood behind Adam. It looked like Spartacus, but its armor was better and now there were four disks with red gems in them floating around him. Crowler pointed at the new monster in fear. "W-What is that?"

"That is Gladiator Beast Gaiodiaz," replied Adam as he returned Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica to his hand. Crowler looked at it and began to calm down. It was big, but it had only 2600 attack points. And if his opponent used some card to boost his monsters attack points, his Sakuretsu Armor would destroy him and he had Rare Metalmorph for extra protection. "Next, I'll activate this from my hand: Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy one of your face downs!"

"Oh no," cried Crowler as Rare Metalmorph was destroyed.

"Next," said Adam as he ignored Crowler. "I'll activate this equip card: Gladiator Beast's Battle Halberd! With this card, at the end of my damage step I can destroy one spell or trap card. Also, it comes back to my hand when my monster leaves due to Tag Summoning. Now I attack your Dread Dynamo with Gladiator Beast Gaiodiaz. Now attack with Heavy Beheading Halberd!" Gaiodiaz lifted his giant halberd and then swung it down upon the tiny little robot who looked worried as all hell.

"I activate my trap card," said Crowler as Sakuretsu Armor flipped over. "This trap will destroy your monster before that attack can go through."

"Not bad," replied Adam. "Now I activate my trap: Parry! This counter trap negates and destroys your trap at the cost of me sending one Gladiator Beast in my hand to my deck." Adam then sent Gladiator Beast Octavius from his hand to his deck and watched as Crowler's trap shattered, allowing his monster to destroy Dread Dynamo. Crowler braced himself as he not only lost a monster, but his life points went down to 7100. "Now my monsters special ability activates and you lose life points equal to the attack points of the destroyed monster."

"WHAT?!" yelled Crowler right before the disks showered him in a red light that brought his life points to 5100. "No matter, now you halberd activates and destroys one of my spell or trap cards. But since I have only one, I might as well say goodbye to Future Fusion. And when this card is destroyed, so is my fusion monster." As predicted, Future Fusion shattered and Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem broke apart. Yet, from the rumble emerged Ancient Gear Golem. "Surprise! When Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem is destroyed I can summon an Ancient Gear Golem from my grave to take its place."

"Not for long," replied Adam. "I end my battle phase and send my fusion monster back to my fusion deck. However, unlike contact fusion, my field won't be empty because I can now Tag Summon two new monsters. So let's welcome Gladiator Beast Murmillo and Gladiator Beast Octavius." The two monsters appeared on Adam's side of the field. Octavius was an eagle man in golden armor with red gems embroidered in it. In one hand he held a scepter and his attack points were 2500. "Now I activate the special ability of my Gladiator Beast Murmillo and destroy your golem. Bye-bye!" Like with Reggie, Murmillo blasted the Ancient Gear Golem with a blast of water so powerful that it knocked the monster down on its back and destroyed it. "I then equip my Gladiator Beast Octavius with Gladiator Beast's Battle Manica and end my turn."

"I'm not done yet," said Crowler as he drew a card. "It appears I've been taking it a bit too easy on you. But that's going to change now that I play my Red Gadget!" Now a red machine with a gear on its back appeared on the field. "And that's not all. You see class, when this monster is summoned to the field I can bring Yellow Gadget to my hand. Next I'll play my Double Summon spell can and this allows me to summon once again. So now I sacrifice both my gadgets to summon my Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon!" A shadow loomed over the field causing Adam to look up. There, in the sky was a mechanical dragon that looked very old but still floating in the sky. Crowler's two monsters jumped into the air and then seemed to merge with the dragon, bringing it to life. It began to flap its decaying wings, creating powerful winds on the field. Adam noticed that it had 3000 attack points. "This monsters powers are determined by what monsters I used to summon it. The Green Gadget allows it to still inflict battle damage even if your monster is in defense mode. Well, as long as it's attack points are higher. And the Red Gadget gives my monster the power to inflict an additional 400 points of damage whenever you take battle damage. Now attack that little blue abomination with Ancient Gear Incinerator!" Blue flames shot out of the dragons mouth and hit its target. Adam's life dropped to 3200 and then again to 2800. "I'll end my turn there."

"You know," said Adam as he drew a card. "You're better than the last guy I dueled. I'll play my Pot of Greed so I can draw two cards." Adam then drew two new cards and smirked. "Next, I'll equip my Octavius with Fighting Spirit and Gladiator Beast's Battle Gladius. My Gladius gives my monster an extra 300 attack points. Add that with the 300 points my Fighting Spirit card gives me for every monster on your side of the field and my monsters attack points become 3100!"

"No way!" cried Crowler.

"Now attack his dragon with Gladiators Judgment!" cried Adam. Octavius nodded and flew up into the sky so that it was right in front of the Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon. It then pointed its scepter at that machine and a golden light shot forth and pierced it. As Crowler watched his monster fall and shatter, he lost 100 life pointed. "Now I discard one card to keep my monster on the field and end my turn."

"Fine," snapped Crowler as he drew a card. "I summon my Yellow Gadget in defense mode and end my turn." This yellow machine with a gear on its back had only 1200 defense points.

"I draw," said Adam. "And now, making his return is Gladiator Beast Dimacari. Now attack his gadget with Champion Slash!" Dimacari raced over to where Yellow Gadget was and made an X shaped slashing motion on it which destroyed it. "Now Octavius, attack him directly with Gladiators Judgment!" Octavius pointed his scepter at Crowler and blasted him with a golden light. Crowler fell backwards as his life points fell to 2300. "I discard the last card in my hand and then send Dimacari back to my deck." Dimacari walked off the field and was then replace with Gladiator Beast Equeste. "Now, I get to add one Gladiator Beast that is in my graveyard to my hand. So come on back Gladiator Beast Secutor. Now, I end my turn."

"I draw," said Crowler. "I summon the Ancient Gear in defense mode and end my turn."

"Looks like you used up all your best monsters," said Adam as he drew a card. "Or you have something good but can't summon it. Now Equeste attack with Galloping Assault!" The centaur didn't need to be told twice as it charged fearlessly at the small gear monster and then stomped it with its hooves. "Now Octavius, finish this!" Octavius blasted Crowler with another golden light from his scepter and Crowler fell to the ground as his life points hit zero.

"I'm back," said Jaden as he carried two bags. "What did I miss?" Adam grinned.

"I just took down a Rare Hunter," he exclaimed.

"I'm not a Rare Hunter!" roared Crowler as he leapt to his feet. This caused Adam to hide behind Jaden. "So your friends with this slacker I see. Makes sense. Such disregard for authority."

"Ah Jaden," whispered Adam. "Do you know this freaky old woman?"

"Yeah," said Jaden. "He was one of my professors back at Duel Academy."

"And let me tell you something," said Crowler as he stormed over to Adam and grabbed him by the jacket. "I'm not a woman!" Adam blinked.

"So you're a cross dresser then," he said. Crowler began to grit his teeth and pull out his hair in utter frustration. He then pulled out a locator card and his rarest card.

"Here," he said. "You won these fair and square."

"So does this mean you're out?" asked Jaden as Adam accepted his prize.

"Hardly," said Crowler as he pulled out three more locator cards. "Remember, I am the top profession at Duel Academy. Winning these was child's play, ha ha!" As Crowler laughed, Adam looked at the card, Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem. While it was powerful, Adam's deck wasn't really meant for a card like this. In the end, it was useless.

"Well, I don't need this," said Adam as he handed back the monster card. "You keep it." Now, Crowler looked like he was about to cry.

"T-Thank you," said Crowler. "I was wrong about you. You are different than this slacker."

"There he is mommy," said a little boy across the street. Everyone turned towards the boy, his friends, and their mothers who all seemed to be glaring at Crowler. Now Crowler was sweating bullets. "There's that mean old lady who dueled us and took our locator cards away!"

"Well got to run," said Crowler as he made a mad dash and was followed by the very people he was trying to escape from.

"Wow," said Adam as they watched Crowler fade in the distance. "Your school life must have been weird as hell."


	4. Chapter 4

Please accept all that happens in this chapter.

-x-

Chumley was walking back to work after handing Jaden the cards he created for him. He had worked really hard on them and he hoped that they would come in handy for when Jaden took on the Wicked Gods. It was the least he could do to repay his friend for always being there for him. It was Jaden who had given him his best card when he had to duel his father and it was that same friend who helped him train for that match against Crowler. If it hadn't been for Jaden, he never would have gotten his dream job. Most likely he would have been sent back home to work at his father's hot sauce factory.

Then, as he turned a corner, he was grabbed and forcefully taken into a building. Everything was happening so fast! Before he knew it, he was on an elevator.

This incident didn't go unnoticed. It just so happened that Dr. Crowler, who had finally escaped from the crowd of angry mothers, arrived just in time to witness one of his former students being assaulted.

"Wasn't that Chumley?" asked Crowler out loud. "How dare someone try and kidnap one of my former students! I will make sure they pay for this!" With that, Crowler raced over to the building and arrived just in time to see Chumley being taken into the elevator. Crowler let out a growl and then looked around for another elevator. Finding none, he decided to use the stairs. "Here I come, Chumley!" shouted Crowler as he began to race up the stairs at full speed.

The elevator opened up on the twentieth floor and Chumley was pushed out of it. The large koala lover stumbled on the roof of the building and then did his best to straighten up. He turned and faced his opponent, who was much stronger than he looked. His assaulter had spiky blue hair and brown eyes. He wore a black sleeveless shirt, black shorts, and had chains hanging from one of his sides. The teen also had a spare Duel Disk which he tossed to Chumley who barely caught it.

"Who are you and what do you want?" demanded Chumley. The blue haired teen was about to speak when the stairway door opened and in walked a panting professor. "Dr. Crowler?"

"Don't worry my dear boy," panted Crowler as he rested his hands on his knees. "I'm here to save you. Just…as soon as I take a short break."

"Looks like I will be needed after all," said a voice from the shadows near the stairway door. Everyone turned to see a small boy of about eleven with square shaped glasses, parted grey hair, and bucked teeth. He had on a green sweater and purple shorts. The boy activated his Duel Disk and the black circle appeared around him and Crowler. "If you want to save your friend then you have to defeat me first!"

"There was no need for you to do that Milton," said the blue haired teen. "I could have taken them both with little effort." With that, he activated his Duel Disk and entrapped him and Chumley in the same black circle. "I'll go first. I draw. I end my turn."

Chumley blinked. He didn't understand it. His opponent ended his turn without summoning any monsters or setting down any cards. Chumley put on his Duel Disk, activated it, and then drew his five cards.

"I draw," said Chumley. He drew his card and his eyes widened. "Lischus! I'll start by playing the spell card: Polymerization! And I'll use it to fuse my Des Kangaroo and my Big Koala in order to create the Master of Oz!" As he said this, a boxing kangaroo and a large koala appeared above him and then were sucked into a vortex. Then, something very large and green fell from the sky and landed behind Chumley. It was the Master of OZ, a large koala with red boxing gloves, a mustache, and a scar on its left eye. It had 4200 attack points and 3700 defense points. "Next I'll be using another lischus card called Wild Nature's Release which will add the defense points to my monsters attack points!" As soon as Chumley played his card, the Master of Oz's attack points became 7900. "Sure, my monster will be destroyed at the end of this turn, but it'll be worth it. Now attack with Take Down From Down Under!" The Master of Oz began his wind up and then punched the blue haired teen with all its might. When the smoke cleared, Chumley's opponent had only 100 life points left.

"Great job Chumley!" cheered Crowler. "Just one more attack and you win!"

"Pointless," said the blue haired teen. "Since my field was empty and I took damage from my opponent, I am now able to special summon Gorz the Emissary of Darkness!" A dark portal opened up on the floor and up rose a fiend with 2700 attack points and 2500 defense points. It looked like a human in dark, bladed armor. On both his arms were blades and on his back was a massive sword. His face was covered and he had long red hair. His red cape blew in the wind. "Now watch closely because he has a special ability that is determined by what kind of damage I took. And since it was battle damage I get an Emissary of Darkness token that has attack points equal to the damage I just took." Another monster appeared on the field like Gorz, but only a fifth of his size and wearing white armor. Its attack points stared at 0 but quickly rose to 7900!

"I'm not done yet," said Chumley. He knew that he was close to winning this duel. Closer than he had ever been in his life. Now all he needed to do was to set a trap that would take away the rest of his opponent's life points. And just because he was setting a trap didn't mean that he needed a trap card. "I place a monster face down and end my turn." With that, a face down card appeared in front of Chumley in a defense position and the Master of Oz exploded into thousands of golden lights.

_If I know Chumley_, thought Crowler,_ that face down card is Des Koala. Once it is flipped over his opponent will take 400 points of damage of each card in his hand. And with only 100 life points left, the moment he attacks is the moment he loses regardless of how powerful a monster he has. I'm proud of you Chumley; you've come a long way._

"I'm tired of waiting," said Milton as he drew a card. "Time to make you feel like a kid again. I summon Protector of the Sanctuary in defense mode!" Blue lines began to appear right in back of Milton. Some seemed to outline a figure while others drew within it until a faceless giant with 1900 defense points appeared. "Next I'll play Card Destruction! Now we both discard all that cards in our hands and then draw the same number from our decks." Both duelists discarded their hands. Milton was able to draw four new cards but when Crowler tried to he found himself unable to do so.

"Hey, what gives?" he demanded.

"My monsters affect," said Milton. "As long as my monsters on the field, you are not allowed to draw any cards outside of your draw phase. That is the power of my deck. I'll make you feel as powerless as a child. Every promise that a spell card will give you, it'll be a lie. Every option that you think you have, I'll take it away! Just like my parents always did to me."

"Are you done yet?" growled Crowler. He was starting to really dislike this child.

"Not yet," said Milton. "I'll play my Fusion Recovery spell card which allows me to get back my Polymerization card and one monster that can be used in a fusion. And I choose my Nightmare Horse." The two cards were added from his Graveyard to his hand. "Next I'll use Polymerization to fuse my Spirit Reaper and my Nightmare Horse to summon Reaper on the Nightmare!" What appeared on the field was one of the most dangerous cards in the game. It was a purple clothed figure holding a scythe in one hand while riding a bandaged horse made of ghostly blue energy. It was a level 5 monster with 800 attack points. While it was weak, its special ability allowed it to attack its opponent directly and each time it did so a card would be discarded from Crowler's hand. "I'll place one card face down and end my turn."

"Good," said Crowler as he drew a card. It was a level four monster. "You've had it your way for too long young man. It's to send you to the corner and I have just the monster to do it. I summon Ancient Gear Knight in attack mode." An Ancient Gear monster appeared on Crowler's side of the field. It looked a lot like Ancient Gear Soldier except one hand was a spear and the other was a shield that looked like a gear. Its attack points were 1800. "Now attack Reaper on the Nightmare with Ancient Gear Jousting!" Crowler knew as his monster charged at its opponent that the Reaper on the Nightmare would survive. But Milton's life points were another matter.

"Fool," said Milton. "I activate my face down: Spirit Barrier. As long as I have at least one monster on the field my life points are safe from battle damage. Also, this is a continuous trap card so it'll be sticking around."

"Fine then," said Crowler. "I end my turn." Crowler knew what he had to do. He needed to get rid of either that trap card or the Protector of the Sanctuary. Once the Protector of the Sanctuary was gone he could draw cards outside of his draw phase. And once Spirit Barrier was done he could get to the brats life points.

-x-

"So who are we meeting up with this time?" asked Adam. The two of them were waiting in a parking lot. A few minutes after Adam had dueled Crowler, Jaden had gotten a phone call. It was short and after it was done Jaden had insisted that they come to this location.

"Well, I called up a friend after you told me what was going on," explained Jaden. "And he says that he found something." Before Adam could say anything, a silver van came into the parking lot. It parked close to where the two were and the door opened revealing Axel Brodie. To Jaden, he hadn't changed a bit. The same clothing, same Duel Disk, and same intense look on his face. "Hey Axel."

"Jaden," said Axel with a nod as he gestured the two into his van. Inside were computers and other electronic devices that looked like something from a modern day war movie.

"Alex," said Jaden as he gestured to Adam. "This is…"

"No time," said Axel as he went to a monitor and pulled up a file. "I think I figured out who the leader of the Rare Hunters is." A picture came up of a man with long blond hair that ended in a dozen spikes and teal colored eyes. "His name is Constant Lutte. From everything I've been able to find, he's the leader of a worldwide political party called Burning Freedom. Lutte has been trying to get all governments around the world to take away freedoms like speech, press, and other things because he believes that they are causing the world's problems. He is also trying to install a one punishment for all crimes: death."

"Well he seems a bit harsh," said Adam. Axel nodded.

"That's what almost all the world leaders believe as well," said Axel.

"So how do you know he's the one?" Jaden asked.

"It was Shinji," said Axel as he pulled up Shinji's file. "A week before the Wicked God cards were stole; he along with several others joined Burning Freedom. Before that, he had no ties to any group and never showed any interest in politics.

"Also, this dude was spotted outside of Industrial Illusions right before the break in." A new file popped up of a blue haired teen. "Meet the number two man in Burning Freedom, James Legion. He used to be a pro duelist who worked his way up from the bottom. However, his poor sportsmanship and violent behavior got him kicked out before he could make it to the big leagues. A couple of days later he joined Burning Freedom."

"So they're going to use the Wicked God cards to force their beliefs on the world?" asked Jaden.

"That's what it seems like," said Adam with a sigh. "And with those cards, they could do it."

"But there is one thing that doesn't make sense," said Axel. "Those cards were under tight lock and key. There were 31 surveillance cameras in that room alone that sent feeds to several building all over the city and some of them were dummies. If even one went offline, the police are instantly notified. Finally the safe, which was designed to withstand a nuclear blast, which they were in, can only be opened by using Toon World and the only person who has that card is Pegasus."

"So what are you saying?" asked Jaden.

"They had inside help," answered Adam. "A card designer or someone who could create another Toon World. Someone who could tell them about the level of security and how to get around it. Needless to say that it's a short list."

"Don't worry," said Axel. "I'll find out who the inside leak is."

-x-

"My move," said Legion as he drew his card. "I'll play the spell card: Dark World Lightning! This card destroys one face down card on the field and then I discard one card from my hand."

"But that means…," said Chumley right before lightning struck his face down Des Koala and destroyed it. Now his field was bare and his life points were wide open.

"Now I attack," said Legion as he discarded a card. "Gorz, show this swine what true terror is with Black Lightning!" Gorz nodded and then drew its sword. He then pointed the massive weapon at Chumley, smiled a wicked smile, and then sent bolts of black lightning at Chumley who screamed in utter pain as they hit. When it was over, Chumley was on his hands and knees.

"Hang on Chumley," cried Crowler. Milton chuckled which caused Crowler to give him his attention.

"It's over for tubby," he said. Crowler growled and turned to look at Legion.

"Leave my former student alone!" he yelled. "I'll take you both on if I have to, just let him go!" Legion looked at Crowler with an uncaring look and then looked at Chumley once again.

"Finish the job my token," he said. The token nodded, jumped into the air, and slashed away the rest of Chumley's life points. Once they were all gone, Chumley's mouth opened up and his soul rose out from it. Then the dark circle rose into the air as well.

"Why?" asked Crowler quietly. Then, anger rose inside of him. He glared at Legion with a furry like nothing he had ever felt before in his life. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT? WHY DID YOU TARGET CHUMLEY OF ALL PEOPLE?"

"Because he was disposable," said Legion as he walked toward the elevator. "He was a useless sack of flesh. He gave us poor duel energy and I doubt his soul is worth that much. However, since he can see duel spirits he can be used as a trade in to summon forth a being from the shadows." The elevator doors opened and Legion stepped inside. He then turned around and looked at Crowler. "If you manage to walk away from this duel, and you still hold on to any foolish belief that you can beat me, then seek me out." And with that, the elevator door closed.

"Back to our duel," said Milton as he drew a card. This brought the total number of cards in his hand to 3. "I'll just attack you directly with my Reaper on the Nightmare. So attack with Ghostly Scythe!" The Reaper obeyed his master's command and went right at Crowler who stood there with his head down. Then phantom rider went right through Ancient Gear Knight and then slashed at Crowler which lowered his life points to 7200. "With that I'll end my turn."

"You just made a big mistake," said Crowler as he looked up at Milton. His eyes were fierce and narrow. His teeth were grit. "I'll end this soon. I draw. I summon to the field my Heavy Mech Support Platform." A new machine appeared on the field. Unlike most of Crowler's monsters, this one looked more like a space ship the size of a backpack. "Don't let its size fool you because it has a special ability. I can equip it to one of my machines in order to increase its attack and defense points by 500." As Crowler said this, his union monster flew around to Ancient Gear Knight's back and then attached itself onto it. Once it was secured the Knight's attack points became 2300. "Now slay Protector of the Sanctuary!" Ancient Gear Knight didn't waste a second as it charged right at the glowing fiend. Protector of the Sanctuary held out a hand to try and stop the attack, but Ancient Gear Knight pierced right through it and destroyed the monster. "I end my turn."

"My draw," said Milton as he drew a card. "Now I'll play the field spell: Fusion Gate." Once the card was played dark swirling clouds filled the sky above them. "With this in play, we can summon fusion monsters without Polymerization. However the material monsters are then removed from play. But it's worth it to fuse my Spirit Reaper and my Nightmare Horse to create another Reaper on the Nightmare." The two monsters in Milton's hand flew into the clouds and then Reaper on the Nightmare came out from the vortex. "Now I'll attack with both my monsters!" Now the double Reaper's charged at Crowler. They seemed to circle him for a while before they brought out their scythes. The first one attacked him from the front and then the second one attacked from behind. When it was over Crowler had 5600 life points. "I'll finish my turn by playing Goblin Thief which takes 500 life points away from you and gives them to me." As Crowler's life points went down to 5100, Milton's rose to 8500.

"My draw," said Crowler as he drew his next card. "Well, well it looks like I drew Pot of Greed. Now I get two new cards." Crowler, thankful for this turn of luck, drew two more cards and hoped that they would be good enough. "I'll play my Future Fusion spell card. I can now send fusion material cards in my deck to my grave and in return I get that fusion monster on my second standby phase." Crowler then sent all three of his Ancient Gear Golems to his graveyard. "Next I'll separate my Heavy Mech Support Platform and then sacrifice it in order to summon my Ancient Gear Engineer!" Heavy Mech Support Platform vanished from the field and in its place was an Ancient Gear monster with a power drill for a hand and a single glowing green eye. "Now, Ancient Gear Engineer, attack the first Reaper on the Nightmare." Ancient Gear Engineer raised his drill and then drilled right into Reaper on the Nightmare. However, the attack passed right through it like the Reaper's body was made of mist.

"Ha-ha," laughed Milton. "That was pointless. My monsters can't be destroyed and I can't take any damage thanks to my trap."

"Which is why I'm getting rid of it!" declared Crowler. "You see, after Ancient Gear Engineer battles a monster it can destroy one spell or trap card on the field. And I choose your Spirit Barrier!" With that, Spirit Barrier exploded. "And don't forget I still have another attack. Go Ancient Gear Knight with Ancient Gear Jousting!" The knight did as it was told and charged at the other Reaper on the Nightmare. While it wasn't destroyed, Milton's life points went down to 7500. "I end my turn."

"About time old man," said Milton as he drew a card. "I'll activate _my_ Pot of Greed." Milton drew two more cards. "Now I'll play my Heavy Storm card which destroys all spell and trap cards on the field." Both watched as Fusion Gate and Future Fusion were destroyed in a powerful burst of wind. "Next I summon my Vampire Lady to the field." Crowler watched as a monster that looked a lot like Camula the Vampire Shadow Rider appeared on the field. This deadly beauty had 1550 attack points. "Now my Vampire Lady attacks your Ancient Gear Engineer with Swarm of the Mistress!" Vampire Lady raised her arms and seemed to summon hundreds of bats from the sky. The bats flew down at Ancient Gear Engineer and began to bite, claw, and get into the machines gears. Moments later all that was left was a pile of rubble and Crowler's life points dropped to 5050. "Now, since my vampire inflicted battle damage, I can name a card type and then you must discard that card to your grave. I choose a monster." Crowler gritted his teeth again and then began to go through his deck to select a monster. Then, he noticed a card that he had recently added. Zane had given him this card and a few others after he got out of the hospital. Crowler passed over that card and selected an Ancient Gear and sent it to the grave. "Now I attack with my two Reaper on the Nightmare!" Once more the Reaper's attacked Crowler directly and sent his life points down to 4250 and then again to 3450. "I'll end my turn."

"My draw," said Crowler as he drew. He looked at the card and, while it wasn't what he was hoping for, it was something he could still use. "I'll play my Ancient Gear Drill. This card lets me go through my deck and pick one spell card from my deck and then place it face down on my field. I then end my turn."

"Looks like age has made you stupid old man," said Milton as he drew. "You could have destroyed my Vampire Lady. Maybe you need another double dose of direct attacks!" Taking that as the command to attack, the twin Reapers attack Crowler once more and brought his life points down to 1850. "I'll end my turn with that, but next time it'll be over for you."

"I draw," said Crowler as he put all his hope in this draw. And he was not disappointed. "Young man, you are greatly confused. Parents sometimes have to break promises, like all people. And when they see the hurt in their children's eyes it hurts them most of all. And when they deny their children something, they have their reasons. You might not be able to understand it, but it is true."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Milton.

"I have been an educator for a long time," said Crowler as he looked at Chumley for a moment. "In all my years, I have gotten close to many of my students. Some of them I needed to go harder on because I cared. I had to deny them what they felt they deserved and made promises I wasn't able to keep. And each and every one of them grew up to be fine duelists and even better human beings."

"Just make your move!" yelled Milton.

"Very well," said Crowler. "I summon Proto-Cyber Dragon!" A mechanical dragon with 1100 attack points appeared on Crowler's side of the field. "Next I activate my face down card: Overload Fusion. I'll now remove from game fusion material monster that are on my field or graveyard in order to summon a dark machine type monster. Now rise up: Chimeratech Overdragon!"

"W-what is that?" demanded Milton as a snake like machine appeared on the field. Then, from the main body, heads began to sprout. One by one they appeared until there were 10 total. "So what if you have some big monster. I will be the winner of this match during my next turn."

"My poor boy," said Crowler as he shook his head. "There will be no next turn for you. You see, since I used 10 machines in order to summon it, Chimeratech Overdragon has 8000 attack points and can attack 10 times."

"N-No way," stammered Milton as he dropped his card and wet his pants. "I-I don't want to lose my soul!"

"YOU BROUGHT THIS UPON YOURSELF!" yelled Crowler as all of the dragons heads fired at once. In a blinding light, Milton's monsters were destroyed and his life points hit 0. And when the light faded both Milton's soul and the black circle were gone. Crowler dropped his Duel Disk and rushed over to Chumley's body.

-x-

Meanwhile, at the Rare Hunter's hideout, Chumley's soul was being used as part of a ritual. Constant Lutte held the soul in a small glass sphere while he chanted in an unknown tongue. After awhile, a dark portal opened up. From it there was the sound of screaming and wailing. Latte moved toward the portal and placed his hands, along with the sphere, into the darkness. And when he pulled them out, his hand held not a sphere but an arm. He held on and continued to pull until the figure was all the way out.

"Welcome back, Adrian."


	5. Chapter 5

"Why did you bring me back?" asked/demanded Adrian Gecko. The leader of Burning Freedom and the Rare Hunters gave the teen a small smile.

"Is that any way to thank the person responsible for returning you to this world?" asked Constant Lutte. Adrian responded by glaring at the man and gritting his teeth. Seeing this, Lutte simply sighed and continued to talk. "I brought you back so that you would help my movement to create a better world. It's what we both want, it's it? I understand what is in your heart young man and it's a world where children don't go hungry. A place where there will be no inequality. There will be no rich or poor and crime will be a thing of the past. Is that not something worth fighting for?"

"It is," said Adrian with a cocky smile. "But I don't need your help to do that." With that, Adrian turned and began to walk away.

"And how far will you get on your own?" asked Lutte which caused Adrian to stop dead in his tracks. "Right now you are penniless and friendless."

'Damn,' thought Adrian as he stopped in his tracks. 'He has a point. I've been gone for too long and Echo is…' Lutte grinned as he saw Adrian's hesitation. He walked over to the teen and then pulled out a deck from his pocket which he then handed to the teen. Curious, Adrian looked at the cards and then gasped in surprise.

"Where did you get this deck?" he demanded.

"A person called Chestmaster," replied Lutte. "He is my contact inside Industrial Illusions. He has been helping us strengthen our decks and has provided the means to extract what we need from those we duel."

Adrian stared at the deck for a while. It was powerful. With it he believed that he could even defeat the famous Yugi. Then, a plan began to form in Adrian's head. For now he would go along with Burning Freedom and do what they wanted him to do. But then, when the time was right, he would duel Lutte and take him down. Then with the power of the Wicked Gods he would rule the world.

"What would you have me do?" asked Adrian. Lutte just grinned.

-x-

Chazz let out a sigh. So far he and Jesse had found nothing. No Rare Hunters, no bad guys, no anything. Right now Jesse was using the restroom while Chazz was sitting on a bench in the park. 'We better find a Rare Hunter soon,' he thought as he closed his eyes. 'Or at least get some dueling in.' With that, Chazz stood up with his eyes still closed and bumped into someone with enough force to knock them both to the ground.

"I'm sorry," he heard a voice say. Chazz opened his eyes and found himself staring at the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. All he could see right now was a face with long blond hair and lime green eyes. "Excuse me, but could you please get off of me?" Chazz blinked for a moment and then realized that he was on top of her.

"S-sorry," said Chazz quickly as he got off of her. It was then that he noticed that she was wearing jeans, a black shirt with a U.F.O on it, and a white lab coat. He watched as she turned around and began to search the grass for something. A few seconds later it seemed that she found what she was looking for: bottle thick glasses.

"_Kind of ruins the image, right Boss?"_ said Ojama Yellow who appeared next to Chazz.

"Quiet you," said both Chazz and the girl at the same time. They both blinked and then began to point at each other.

"You can see Ojama Yellow?" shouted Chazz.

"Of course I can see him," said the girl. "I also have a duel spirit." As soon as she said that a small gray humanoid like creature appeared on her shoulder with red almond eyes. The creature then began to make a clicking noise which caused the girl to giggle as she stood up. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Mina Allverse and this is little guy is Alien Grey."

"The names Chazz Princeton," replied Chazz as he got up while trying to sound cool. "Since you're able to see Duel Spirits I'm guessing that you're a powerful duelist."

"I guess," said Mina with a blush. "Right now a friend of mine is holding onto my duel disk and deck. I had to meet up with my sisters and I couldn't take it with me."

"How come?"

"Because they think dueling is a waste of time," replied Mina with a sigh. "Like that's anything new. Everything I do, even my job, is a waste of time to them."

"What do you do, if you don't mind me asking," asked Chazz.

"I'm an astrobiologist but I also have my hand in xenoarchaeology," replied Mina with pride. Chazz, however, looked clearly confused. "An astrobiologist studies life in space and xenoarchaeology is a hypothetical from of alien archaeology. Lina, my oldest sister, is a geologist while Tina, the middle child, is a zoologist."

"So what you're saying is that you have older sibling who don't believe in you," said Chazz with awe. Finally, someone who could understand him.

"Yeah," replied Mina as she looked away. "I truly believe that there is life out there, just waiting for us to find it. But my sisters think I'm just an idiot Sci-Fi fan."

"I know what that's like," admitted Chazz. "My older brothers are the same with me. They think they're big shoots because they are a CEO and a lawyer."

"We have so much in common," said Mina as she smiled at Chazz. "Maybe we could get together some time after the tournament."

"I-I'd like that," replied Chazz with a blush. Mina smiled until she noticed the time on a nearby clock.

"I'm late," she cried out. "I'll see ya later Chazz." And with that she took off. Chazz continued to watch her as she ran. Sadly, his vision also included lots of hearts. His long time crush on Alexis quickly faded as it was replaced with a new one. To him, Mina was like an angel that had descended from the heavens.

"_Ah, Boss,"_ said Ojama Yellow. _"Just a quick question. How can you call her if you don't have her number?"_ Chazz blinked as he was brought back to reality. Letting out a small curse, Chazz began to run in the direction she had gone. It wasn't long until he caught up with her, however she wasn't alone. In front of her were two men in dark suits. It took him only an instant to realize who they were and when he saw one grab Mina's shoulder he lost his cool.

"Slade," yelled Chazz. "You and Jagger get away from her!"

"Well, well," said Slade as he roughly pushed Mina to the side and stepped forward. "Looks like we finally found you Chazzy. Time to pay you back for that humiliation you gave me back at Dual Academy."

"That would just be a waste of my time," said Chazz as he tried his best to sound tough. "You couldn't even beat me with a handy cap so what makes you think you can defeat me this time?"

"What's the matter Chazz?" sneered Jagger. "Afraid you'll lose?"

"I just want nothing to do with you to," said Chazz.

"Well too bad for you," said Slade. "The family dream of world domination was ruined because of you. And we're going to make you pay. Don't forget that we still have ways of making you do what we say. Remember your favorite card? The one we took away from you when you nearly lost that match in prep-school?" With that Slade held up a card that caused Chazz to gasp. "If you duel us both and win, we'll not only give you our locator cards but I'll also return this card back to you. But if you refuse or lose, well I guess I'll just have to rip this card in two. I know how much this card means to you since mom and dad gave it to you before they died."

"Fine," said Chazz as he seethed in anger. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Mina moved to the side line. She was safe and appeared to be alright.

"Now you hold on a minute," came a voice behind Chazz. Everyone looked and saw Jesse running towards them. "Two against one is just plain unfair. So what do you say we make this a tag team duel. And, if I lose, I'll give you my Crystal Beast deck!"

"No way," growled Jagger. "This is a family matter!"

"Why not," said Slade which surprised Jagger. "I bet that deck would go for a lot of money on the dueling black market."

"You're right," admitted Jagger as both he and his bother readied their duel disks. Seeing this, Jesse and Chazz began to do the same. But, before Chazz put his on, he added a card from his side deck into his main. Once everyone was ready they all yelled out "Let's duel!" at the same time. Both teams received 16000 life points and a black ring appeared around the duel field.

"Hey, what's going on?" demanded Chazz.

"This is just a gift from Burning Freedom," said Slade with a nasty grin. "Also known as there Rare Hunters! They also gave us our decks and a crash course in how to use them. Little do they know that they're digging their own graves."

"See, we plan on taking over Burning Freedom," said Jagger. "We'll go along with their plans until the time is right and then take over this organization. Then we will have world domination faster than we ever thought possible. And, as an added bonus, you happen to be our first target!" With that, both older brothers began to laugh. But, what they didn't know was that there was a camera nearby. Kaiba had hundreds of them set up all over the city looking for interesting duels to broadcast on the giant screen in the downtown plaza. And this duel qualified as interesting so now everyone could watch it.

"I'll go first," said Slade as he drew the first card. "I think I'll start by sending Hecatrice to my graveyard so that I can add Valhall, Hall of the Fallen to my hand and then I'll play it." With that, Slade played his continuous spell card which took the form of giant marble pillars with red drapes behind him. "Now, since I have no monsters on the field, I am allowed to special summon one monster from my hand. So rise: Bountiful Artemis!" With that, a metallic looking creature appeared on the field. Its upper body looked like a human but its lower body looked more like a top which hovered above the ground. This creature had wings, wore a purple cape, and had 1600 attack points. "Next I'll summon Royal Knight in attack mode!" Now another machine like angel appeared on the field. This creature hade one blinking green eye in the middle of its head and a small sword. Its attack points were 1300. "Now I'll finish with two face downs and end my turn." This left Slade with no cards in his hand.

"About time," said Chazz as he drew his card. "I'll summon my Masked Dragon in attack mode!" As Chazz placed his card on his duel disk a red dragon appeared in front of him.

"You activated my traps," declared Slade as his two face downs were revealed. "First there's Forced Back which sends the monster you just summoned back to your hand. And since Forced Back is a counter trap card it activates the effect of my continuous trap card Synthetic Seraphim!" As Slade declared the cards name another machine looking angel appeared next to him in his spell/trap card zone. This one was on all fours and had wheels at the end on each limb. On its back were four small cannons. After it was activated it fired one of its cannons and launched a Synthetic Seraphim Token onto Slade's field. The token looked like a floating green orb with 300 attack and defense points. "And let's not forget about the effect of my Bountiful Artemis. Whenever one of my counter traps is activated I am allowed to draw a card." And with that Slade drew him card with an evil grin.

"I end my turn," said Chazz. He knew this was bad. Slade not only sent his monster back to his hand, but also gained a card and a token at the same time.

"It's my draw," said Jagger as he drew. "I'll start by playing two continuous spell cards: Dimensional Fissure and Soul Absorption!" With that, the space above Jagger and Slade seemed to be cut into a cross shaped pattern. Looking into it, Chazz and Jesse could see only a swirling darkness. "Thanks to the effect of Dimensional Fissure all monsters that would normally go to the graveyard will instead be removed from play. And thanks to Soul Absorption we will be gaining 500 life points each time a monster is removed from play. Now, to finish my turn, I summon my D.D. Survivor in attack mode. With that, a blond haired human appeared on the field. No one could see anything about this figure for he was wrapped in a brown tatter cloak.

"My draw," said Jesse as he drew his card and then looked the field over. He already knew they were at a disadvantage. So far the enemy had three monsters in attack mode and one token. They also had three active spells and one active trap. But no face downs. "I'll summon my Topaz Tiger in attack mode!" With that, a white tiger with a horn on its head appeared on the field. This monster had 1600 attack points. "Now I'll destroy the strongest monster on the on the field. Attack D.D. Survivor!"

"Stupid move," said Jagger as Jesse's tiger began to run towards the blond warrior. "My monster will win this fight." But then, before his very eyes, Slade watched as his monster was destroyed and he lost 200 life points making his total 15800. "How?"

"When Topaz Tiger attacks a monster he gains 400 attack points during the damage stage," explained Jesse.

"I guess you forgot about my spell cards," said Jagger. "That's to Dimensional Fissure my monster is instead removed from play. Then, thanks to Soul Absorption, I get 500 more life points which raise my life points to 16300. Also, thanks to D.D. Survivor's affect, he will be returning to the field during the end phase." Jagger grinned. "If you want to have any hope at victory you will have to start dealing 600 points of damage at the least if you want to even dent our life points."

"Alright then," said Jesse. "I guess I'll play my Crystal Tree and end with a face down." As Jesse ended his turn a small tree appeared on the field as did D.D. Survivor.

"So sad," said Slade as he drew a card. "I'll summon Layard the Liberator!" A new mechanical like angel appeared on Slade's field, this one having 1400 attack points. Layard had no legs, it just seemed to hover in the air and there were several pink disks floating below its waist. This monster also had six arms and wings. "Now Bountiful Artemis will attack Chazz with Fulfilling Light!" Once the attack was issued, Bountiful Artemis raised its hands and sent a golden colored light at Chazz.

"I activate my trap, Rainbow Life!" declared Jesse. "By discarding one card from my hand any damage we would have taken this turn will instead be added to our life points." With that, Jesse discarded his Rainbow Veil equip card to the grave. After he did that a rainbow colored wall appeared in front of the to of them and blocked the attack of Bountiful Artemis. When the attack ended their life points went up to 17600.

"Fine then," said Slade. "I'll play a face down and end my turn. But don't think you have won just yet. Our decks were designed to defeat you. And once this match is over we will be one step closer to ruling the world!"

…to be continued


End file.
